Manitoba

Manitoba makes 'final offer' to health-care workers days ahead of strike deadline

Thousands of health-care workers on the brink of hitting the picket lines will instead spend the coming days mulling over contract details from the province.

'Final offer' from province being passed on to MAHCP members for ratification, union says

Members and supporters of the Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals union were out picketing in front of the Health Sciences Centre Monday morning. The union says its members were prepared to strike if the province didn't offer them a fair contract by the end of the month. (Wendy Buelow/CBC)

Thousands of health-care workers on the brink of hitting the picket lines will instead spend the coming days mulling over contract details from the province.

Members of the Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals (MAHCP) were threatening to strike on Monday if the Manitoba government didn't step up to the bargaining table and offer them a new deal. Members of the union have been without a contract for almost two years.

On Friday night, the union posted a statement to its website saying the province's bargaining team had put forth a "final offer." The union will now pass details of the contract over to its members for ratification.

The MAHCP represents over 3,000 front-line workers across the province, including pharmacists, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, radiology technologists, X-ray technologists, MRI and CT technologists, respiratory therapists, speech pathologists, social workers, hospice care workers and dozens of other technical health-care professions in the province.

The offer comes just days after the province settled negotiations with members of Manitoba's largest union.

The Manitoba Government and General Employees Union and its 14,000 civil service members signed a deal that will see wages increased by eight per cent over the next five years earlier this week.